School Project Offers Lesson

January 17, 2002|By Leon Fooksman Staff Writer

DELRAY BEACH — It was a tough decision from the start, but the city's effort to relocate Atlantic High School in the middle of residential communities has turned into a textbook example of how not to put together a project.

The lesson, city officials concede: Problems only worsen when there are diplomatic blunders.

Delray Beach administrators admit to gaffes that added to the uproar that has become one of the most controversial decisions in the city's recent history. First, Mayor David Schmidt shifted on whether the city would uproot Breezy Ridge residents for the high school. And second, the city failed to respond to letters of concern from homeowners in nearby Coral Trace.

"This whole thing has been a disaster," said City Commissioner Jeff Perlman.

These oversights contributed to dozens of people from Coral Trace, Breezy Ridge and neighboring High Point heckling and booing city commissioners this week as the officials gave preliminary approval to spend $6.3 million to buy the first of many properties needed to build the school in a central-city location.

The project's critics are frustrated that the commissioners have moved too fast in recent weeks to begin securing the 30 to 40 acres off West Atlantic Avenue for the school.

The slip-ups didn't help.

Many residents in Breezy Ridge are upset that they would have to move, while others in Coral Trace and High Point are distressed about the noise and traffic that would come with living next door to the school. Some Atlantic High alums with sentimental ties to the school are angry that the old building would be demolished.

And some taxpayers are unhappy that Delray Beach didn't consider buying that first 20-acre vacant property before it soared in value. The $6.3 million price is almost twice as much as the $3.5 million that Miami Lakes-based Continental Homes FL Inc. paid for the land last summer.

City Manager David Harden said he wishes the city could have pushed to have Atlantic High School moved there years ago, long before there was a Coral Trace development and before Continental Homes bought its land for a townhouse development. But there was no serious interest back then from the school district, he said.

"At that point I don't think anybody thought about it," Harden said. "Unfortunately, we didn't see a potential use there. Everyone now wishes we could have."

In December, the Palm Beach County School District indicated a willingness to move the outdated and overcrowded school on Seacrest Boulevard to a more convenient spot near Interstate 95. That's when the scrambling started.

City administrators hastily convened a meeting with nearly 100 residents of Breezy Ridge, a 38-home, middle-income community, and asked whether they would consider selling the land. When the overwhelming answer was no, Mayor David Schmidt reassured them that the city would back off. But this week, city officials and a public relations firm are interviewing individual homeowners there to see if they would reconsider and sell.

"These things were unfortunate because it left people with the impression that the city wouldn't proceed in acquiring Breezy Ridge, and now we are," Harden said.

"Unfortunately, what people don't understand is that no one commissioner can speak for the city unless the commission as a whole has taken a position. And the mayor was speaking for himself on what he thought might happen, and then he changed his mind after speaking to other people."

Another mistake, officials said, was waiting months to reply to two letters sent in October by the homeowners of Coral Trace. The residents wanted to know what could be done to preserve Continental Homes' 20 acres as a nature area.

It wasn't until this week that Schmidt sent his reply: The land was targeted for development and wasn't worthy of being preserved.

Had these blunders not happened, the residents probably would have been upset anyway, said Kenneth Carruthers, a Coral Trace resident. But the mistakes certainly added to the aggravations that boiled over this week, when the commission decided to buy the contested 20 acres.

"We were offended. All it did was demonstrate the city's lack of sensitivity towards its constituents," he said.

Leon Fooksman can be reached at lfooksman@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6647.